Colorants & Additives Used

Extra Supplies Needed

A squeeze condiment bottle

A skewer or chopstick

PREP WORK: Make your lye solution with the distilled water and sodium hydroxide. Spread out your little ball of silk into a stretched out web, and mix it into your lye solution while it’s still hot. It will dissolve while you finish your prep work.

Prep your soaping oils. I like to add my essential oils to my soaping oils so that I do not have to remember to add them later.

Measure one tablespoon of french pink clay into the squeeze bottle, and add a small bit of your soaping oils to the squeeze bottle (about 2 to 3 tablespoons.) Close the cap and shake the bottle rigorously to mix your clay into the oils and form a slurry. You can also do this in a shallow dish and use a frother instead.

Add Silk to the Hot Lye Solution

GET STARTED: Add your lye solution to your soaping oils and stick blend until emulsified. Once you have reached an emulsified state, pour half of your batch into your squeeze bottle with the french pink clay slurry. (If you have not added the essential oil blend, you need to do that first!)

Put the cap on your squeeze bottle and shake rigorously until the soap is thoroughly mixed. Be sure to place your gloved finger over the end of the squeeze bottle while shaking it, and lift your finger with the bottle pointed AWAY from you. The pressure from within the bottle will sometimes cause a small amount of the raw soap to force out of the top.

Add the Lye Solution to the Soaping PotAdd Half of the Silk Soap Batch to the Squeeze Bottle

SWIRL IT: Pour about one third of the uncolored soap into the mold.

Next, aim the squeeze bottle at a 45 degree angle and squeeze one third of the french pink clay soap into the uncolored soap in the mold.

Repeat the previous two steps. (One third of the white soap, poured randomly in the mold. One third of the french pink clay soap squeezed at a 45 degree angle.)

Flood fill the top of the batch with the remainder of the uncolored soap.

Pour Part of the Uncolored Soap into the MoldUse the Squeeze Bottle at an Angle to Swirl the Silk SoapFlood Fill the Top of the Batch with the Remaining Uncolored Soap

GIVE IT SOME HEARTS: Using the squeeze bottle, put little dots of french pink clay soap on the surface of the batch.

Use a skewer or a chopstick barely inserted into the soap’s surface to drag through the dots. Think of it like playing connect the dots, but with a swirling/sweeping motion.

Use the Squeeze Bottle to Place Dots of French Pink Clay colored SoapUse a Skewer to Turn the Dots into HeartsHearts Decorating the Top of the French Pink Clay & Silk Soap

THE FINISH LINE: Put the french clay & silk soap to sleep (insulate lightly – this essential oil blend can overheat). When the soap surface loses it’s sheen, spray the top with rubbing alcohol to help prevent ash. Unmold in 12 to 24 hours.

If the french clay & silk soap is too soft, leave it for another 12 to 24 hours before attempting to unmold again.

Slice it up, cure it out, & enjoy!

The french clay & silk soap formula featured in this tutorial is a Modern Soapmaking original. It is palm-free (but NOT vegan friendly, as silk is an animal by-product. Cruelty-free Tussah Silk is available, however, it is still not a vegan ingredient because of its origin)

It uses a 7% superfat and a 33% lye solution strength. You may want to increase the water if you are not used to stronger lye solutions as the essential oil blend does accelerate trace.

Have you ever made french clay or silk soap? How about decorating the tops of your loaf batches with hearts instead of a slab? Tell me about it right here in the comments!

Hey-ho, I'm the soapy founder of Modern Soapmaking, and I eat, breathe, and sleep soap. (Okay, I don't eat soap... that's gross.) My passion is in helping other soapmakers find their path, whether it's in the craft or as an entrepreneur. Maybe, I can help you find yours?

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What Folks Are Saying

Amathia Soapworks was a vegan bath & body company, however, it no longer exists. I didn’t feel it was fair to keep tutorials on Modern Soapmaking limited to veganism as many soapmakers search for help in using animal products in soapmaking (such as silk, beeswax, animals milks, etc.) All tutorials list a brief summary of the formula’s specialty information, such as being palm free, vegan, or using particular water discounts at the end. This one in particular notes that silk is not a vegan product. 😉

I’m very interested in the two Woodfield Soap Molds that Tierra Verde Handmade Soaps is destashing. Please contact me at: jml11349@aol.com.
I tried clicking on the link, but nothing comes up.
Thank you,
Joanne M. LaPomarda
Cliff Island Soapworks (web site is not up yet, working on it and hopefully will be ready late Spring 2014. Thank you!

Thanks Kenna for getting back to me. I had a feeling they would already be gone. I love Woodfields Molds and already have several of them, In fact, I just bought another one a few days ago. They are having a different sale, each week through all of February!
I got 12% off my mold, which isn’t much, but it did save me the cost of shipping, which I’m grateful for!
Thanks again,
Joanne
Cliff Island Soapworks

I don’t have any apricot kernel oil, can you suggest another oil that might be good (I do have rose hip oil, would that work well, do you think?) Of course I’ll run it through a lye calculator 🙂 It’s lovely soap, I’d love to make it today!

Rosehip oil would make a much softer soap, and decrease the lather a bit, most likely. I think the closest replacement oil for the same fatty acid profile would be almond oil. Try putting the formula in Soap Calc and changing it out with another oil you have on hand to compare the numbers. 🙂

I just realized you did this in a loaf, which is my go to style, but I think I’m going to try it in a slab this time. I love the heart design on the top and think that would be fun for the top of a slab. Thanks for the recipe and design!

I normally see this design used in slabs, but I wanted to make a soap in a loaf. 🙂 I prefer using loaves instead of slabs, so it’s nice to see which techniques can translate between the two formats! It will look amazing on a slab because of the larger surface area!

Tried this the other day as I thought it was wonderful! Got the unbleached Tussah silk and used Pink Peony fragrance.
Wow – first time a soap has seized – so being able to do the intricate coloured layers wasn’t an option. Didn’t quite fill my mould and I scraped the rest of the coloured soap out of the bottle!!!!
Looks OK though – no-one has to know my true intentions now, do they?
Looking forward to using it.

Super new to soap making .but love your site.
Is there one soap base that I can make that can be used to make different varieties of soap?
For ex. Make the base , let it cure .
Melt it later on , add ingredients ( fresh fruits , veg, herbs ) etc later on to customize ?
If so can you please send link to make that soap base?
Thanks appreciate your help

Hey, Lisa,
Refined and organic shea butter are not mutually exclusive. Refined, organic shea butter is available. We recommend using refined butters because they have fewer impurities. Whether or not you also choose organic is up to you (or based on your brand values, if you are in business).

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